DIY Gumball Machine Costume for Halloween
Need a DIY Costume idea for Halloween? See this easy DIY Gumball Machine Costume for Halloween!
One of our readers posted this costume on Facebook and I thought it was to cute not to share.
What You Need:
This costume is an easy DIY that doesn't even involve sewing. For a lot of us, that is an essential! There are plenty of costumes you can make with just some felt and a good glue gun, so you don't need to try out your sewing skills or try to find all the pieces to the sewing machine to save a few dollars.
For this costume you will need red felt fabric. Measure from the level of the waist to the floor. About 1.5 yards should be plenty.
Velcro: Purcase enough velcro to fasten the “skirt” of the costume all the way down. This will be about 1 yard, but you will use less if this costume is for a smaller child.
Gray and Black felt fabric- for the gray and black accent pieces you will only need small squares. The felt aisle at Hobby Lobby has 12″ square pieces that work great for this purpose.
Scissors- be sure to have a very sharp pair of craft scissors. Felt is known to be harder to cut through so you will need a very sharp or new pair.
Glue Gun- while most craft glue guns will work, there will be quite a bit of gluing on this project so a larger glue gun with the longer glue sticks is ideal.
Plastic bag- a clear, heavy duty trash bag makes up the chest portion of this costume. Since it does need a hole in which the bag will sit over the shoulders, do not use this gumball machine costume idea for toddlers, babies or younger children who may accidentally pull the bag over their head, for safety reasons.
Small plastic balls- You can find the hollow plastic balls online. Stores probably vary a lot whether they have these in stock or not. If you don't have time to wait on ordering these, you can optionally use small balloons. Round balls look more like the gumballs we traditionally see, so your gumball machine costume will be more accurate if you can find these.
Long sleeved shirt- this costume looks best over a long sleeved black shirt. You will also need to have long pants or leggings for your child since the bottom section of the costume is only held together with velcro.
Red hat- you should be able to find colorful ballcaps in the hat aisle at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. This costume looks best with a hat in the same color as the red for the bottom of the “gumball machine”.
Instructions for the Gumball Machine Costume:
- Buy Red felt long enough to go from your child's waist to the floor then cut it so it wraps completely around them.
- Use Velcro all the way down the back to close the skirt.
- Buy a single grey square and attach it to the front and glue black numbers to it that read 25 cents.
- Use a 2nd piece of grey felt towards the bottom for where the gumballs are supposed to come out. Puff it out for a good effect.
- Use a white heavy duty plastic garbage bag for the top.Cut the bottom of the bag for head and arms and close around the waste with a belt.
- Fill the bag with small plastic balls through the arm holes once the costume is on.
- Use a red ball cap or cover it with red felt.
You can pick up the trashbags, red ball cap and small plastic balls at Walmart. If your Walmart still has a fabric dept (some locations do not) you can get the felt there as well.
Huge thank you to Christina for sending us this picture. Her daughter is adorable. Do you have a homemade costume to share with us? We have now added a pin button if you use Pintrest so you can keep this post for later!
See More Halloween and fall DIY's right here on the blog before you go!
Make this Pumpkin Patch Trail Mix for a fun treat- you can even use clearance or leftover candy!
DIY Gain Flings Container Witch Halloween Decor– recycle one of the larger Gain Flings containers to make this fun and not-so-scary witch!
Finding yourself overloaded with pumpkin at the house? See our Pumpkin Recipe Roundup and ways to use up pumpkin- you will have the house full of delicious scents of pumpkin and spice, too!
so ardorible
This is too cute! Last year I went as a gumball machine, too. This one is for adult women though- https://www.lifeunsweetened.com/2013/10/31/gumball-machine-halloween-costume/